Our STEM Maker Fest is the day after tomorrow. Today, one of our group of students who has been working on their project for hours and hours during and after school for weeks got everything up and running. They built a robot from the ground up. It’s a tank with a t-shirt canon on it. They got some help from the robotics team on the programming, but did the majority of the work themselves. Judging by the crowd they drew in the hallway while testing today, they are going to be very popular at the Maker Fest. They even contacted Chik-fil-A for t-shirt donations to shoot from the cannon. So proud of these kids who have been working so hard to make this event a success. Two of the students in this group didn’t have a technology class this year. However, from this project alone they learned much more than most students learn in a year. If you wonder if Maker Ed and Project Based Learning really has a place in schools, you need to see this process in action. This is inspired learning that goes outside of the classroom to real skills that are valuable in today’s society. Give kids a chance to tinker and make! Trust me; you’ll be amazed with what they come up with!